Great interest in the schooling needs of children and youths of unusual ability is now evident at every level of American education. All over the country, classes are being regrouped, new courses introduced, and new material added to old courses to give bright boys and girls a tougher and more stimulating education. This activity is designed in general to benefit the upper fifth, in some cases the upper fourth or even third, of the school population as classified by ability.

Some schools make special provision for the top one or two per cent. However, the main object is not to single out a few prodigies but to fatten up the curriculum for millions with better than average minds. Generally speaking, these are the children who “develop good vocabularies at an early age, read widely, grasp new ideas easily, ask intelligent questions, and are really curious about the nature of the world about them.” Such children come from all walks of life, from poor homes and rich; many of them do not know they are capable of achievement beyond the general run for pupils of their age.

Sputnik's Spurring of Interest in the Gifted

Special schools or classes for bright children are not new to American education; some of the larger city school systems and private schools have made systematic provision for top-level students for years. What is new is that such practices, once limited to relatively few institutions, are now being widely adopted by public schools and by colleges. Never before has so extensive an effort been made to identify, to draw out, to encourage, and to provide challenging educational fare for the child of superior brainpower.